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Trinity College, Dublin The Academic and Artistic Collections – a summary

First produced February 2010; contact and website updates March 2016

Trinity College Dublin – The Academic and Artistic Collections

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Contents

Page Collection, Department / Office / School, Location

3 Introduction

5 Anatomy Museum, Department of Anatomy, Anatomy Building

Contacts: Philomena McAteer [email protected] ; Siobhan Ward

[email protected] ; Mary Lynch [email protected] ; Claire Murphy

[email protected]

7 Art Collections, Office for the College Secretary, Campus-wide

Contact: Catherine Giltrap [email protected]

9 Herbarium, Department of Botany, Botany Building

Contact: Prof. John Parnell [email protected]

11 Civil Engineering Heritage Archive, The Department of Civil,

Structural & Environmental Engineering, Museum Building

Contact: Dr. Ron Cox [email protected]

12 Classics Collection, Department of Classics, Arts Building

Contacts: Prof. Brian McGing and Dr. Hazel Dodge

[email protected] , [email protected]

13 Computer Science Collection, School of Computer Science,

O’Reilly Institute

Contact: Dr. Brian Coghlan [email protected]

14 The Geological Museum, Department of Geology

Contact: Dr. Patrick WyseJackson [email protected]

16 The Weingreen Museum, Department of Near and Middle Eastern

Studies, Arts Building Contact: Dr. Zuleika Rodgers

[email protected]

18 The Zoological Museum, Department of Zoology, Zoology Building

Contact: Dr. Martyn Linnie [email protected]

NOTE: There will be updates to this document to include the collections held at the Department of

Physics, the Department of Chemistry, and a more detailed entry on the Silver Collection.

This document was compiled by Catherine Giltrap, Curator of the College Art Collections, with

the assistance of Dr. Zuleika Rodgers, Curator of the Weingreen Museum, and the generous

donation of time of each curator in the composition of the collections descriptions.

mailto:[email protected]














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Introduction

Catherine Giltrap, Curator of the University Art Collections, Trinity College Dublin

The Dublin University

Museum, 1777-1876, Regent

House

Universities are optimally positioned to fulfil what has become the new role of museums in

general – a forum for debate, for the exchange, communication and initiation of ideas,

and a coming together of people. At Trinity College Dublin the wealth of disciplines, range

and availability of specialised knowledge and expertise, combined with a mixture of

experienced and younger enquiring minds distinguishes this as an institution that is

simultaneously of its cultural context but also freer, to some extent, to be more

experimental and creative.

The spectacular Long Room within The Old Library has, for 300 years, served as the main

communicative interface for Trinity’s creative and cultural achievements and events. There

exists an additional wealth of material culture in the form of the College’s specialised

teaching collections acting as important resources that are also directly in contact with

the core business of College - research and teaching. These are mainly cared for in an

honorary capacity by dedicated individuals in related disciplines. Together with the Library

collections, they embody Trinity’s rich heritage, representing 400 years of its place at the

centre of Irish and international intellectual and cultural life. The unique nature of these

collections in relation to their public counterparts is that they have emerged from an

essentially research-driven quest for knowledge and a desire to disseminate and develop

this knowledge primarily for didactic and scholarly purposes.

In the special case of university collections, scholarship and stewardship ideally

complement each other in order to both preserve and develop these unique primary

resources. Historically, a number of the Trinity teaching collections were sited in dedicated

locations, and, in some situations, buildings were designed to specifically house them. For

example, from 1777 until 1875, the Anatomy and Natural History Collections (including what

are now defined as the Geological and Zoological Collections) were displayed together in

‘The Dublin University Museum’, located in Regent House above the principal West Front

entrance to the College. Between 1857 and 1876, these collections were transferred to

purpose-built teaching, research and display facilities in the form of the Museum Building

specially designed by Deane and Woodward, the Anatomy Building and the separate

Zoology Building. The Anatomical Museum and linked space for practical investigation, the

Dissecting Room, were deemed so modern and functional that they were described by


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Provost Mahaffy in his history of College as presenting “none of the dinginess so generally

characteristic of rooms of the kind.” A 19th century fascination with objects as the

embodiments of knowledge resulted in the design of optimal facilities for the storage,

display and conservation of teaching collections worldwide.

The latter half of the 20th century witnessed a pedagogical paradigm shift away from the

use of objects to represent fact, particularly in relation to scientific education. This was

mainly generated by research developments at molecular, and subsequently nano level

which could not be expressed at this time through collections. However, towards the end

of the last century, object based learning experienced a revival aided by, and as a

complement to, virtual learning and the visualisation of both the macro and micro levels of

research. Object collections are no longer solely perceived as strict representations of fact

but are employed individually or together to challenge accepted knowledge, and

hopefully, to inspire new ways of thinking.


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The Anatomy Museum

www.medicine.tcd.ie/anatomy

1. Collection description

The anatomy department of TCD has 4 unique collections of human remains:

i. The Anthropological collection consists of skulls donated to the department during the

19th Century.

ii. The Pathological museum collection which is 18th Century in origin

iii. The Collection of Disarticulated Bones used for undergraduate teaching

iv. The Collection of Human Anatomical Dissections

The Museum:

The Anatomy Museum is located in the Anatomy Building at the east end of College. On

the ground floor and gallery, the following human remains from the Pathological collection

are displayed: William Clarke, born 1677 Cork, Myositis offificans, Sir Edward Barry 1737

letter; Cornelius Magrath 1736-1760 Co.Tipperary, Acromegaly, featured in a recent book:

‘Acromegaly’ by der Lely et al, 2005. Also displayed are: 2 pathological skeletons 1

showing Paget's disease and 1 Acromegaly; 2 other full skeletons: 1 Malaysian, 1 Australian;

47 Human Skulls; 11 mandibles; 4 maxillae; 10 skulls of various primates.

Human Anatomical Preparations:

Also in the museum are 74 glass display jars of dissected human anatomy stored in solution.

Some of these dissections were carried out by Professor Daniel J Cunningham*, author of

Cunningham’s Textbook of Anatomy and Cunningham’s Manual of Practical Anatomy.

Other artefacts include casts of various skulls, 16 casts of cranio cerebral topography by

D.J. Cunningham, and casts of Piltdown Man.

The Dissection Room:

Professor Cecil Erskine, Professor of Anatomy, 1947 to 1984, painted and sculpted many art

pieces for the Dissecting Room and Lecture Theatre. These were done during the early

1950’s coinciding with refurbishment of the Lecture Theatre and Dissecting Room:11 Large

canvas painting, copies of Vesalius’ drawings, 3 of which are of skeletons and 11 depict

the muscles of the body classically posed. In addition, there are 2 Large sculptures: 1 male,

1 female, 2 copper panels 1 male 1 group, and 1 Plaque of Professor Daniel J.

Cunningham, (1850- 1909) Professor of Anatomy TCD 1883 – 1903.

The Lecture Theatre:

Two large paintings by Professor Erskine are displayed on either side of the teaching board

in the 19th century lecture theatre. They depict an anatomy scene, ‘The Professor’s Chair’,

the first illustration to appear in an anatomy textbook by Mondino of Lucca 1315, and

which is repeated three times across ten panels each side of the 19th century lecture

theatre. The original artwork was a woodcut, by Johannes de Ketham. In addition, there

are two representations of Roman copies of ancient Greek statues, one is the Venus de

http://www.medicine.tcd.ie/anatomy


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Milo, the other is the Apoxyomenos. These statues were originally displayed at the centre of

the Dissection Room.

2. Provenance

The collections mostly date from the 18th and 19th century, some having specific

provenance histories while others are less well known and are indicative of a historical

method of research. At the end of 2009, 3 Maori mummified heads and a full skeleton from

this collection were returned to the National Museum of New Zealand to honour the Maori

wish to return these remains to their homeland and eventually to direct descendants,

where possible. This gesture embodies the ethical paradigm shift in the approach to

studying anatomy introduced in the 20th century.

3. Use of Collection in Teaching, Research, Outreach

Most of the collection is used in teaching undergraduates and some post-graduate

students of the Health Science Faculty. It is also a unique teaching resource for anyone

researching osteo-archeology and pathology. Regular requests for access to the

collections by researchers and surgeons are facilitated. The Collection of Human

Anatomical Dissections is on display in our museum building and is used to teach

undergraduates.

4. College Collection links: Current ethics preclude human remains being displayed

among other artefacts. There are links with the College Art Collections in terms of the

portraits representing key figures from the history of the department and the art integrated

into the building for teaching purposes that were produced by Professor Erskine.

Contacts: Philomena McAteer [email protected] ; Siobhan Ward [email protected] ; Mary

Lynch [email protected] ; Claire Murphy [email protected]





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The College Art Collections

www.tcd.ie/artcollections


Trinity College Dublin represents a tradition of commissioning and collecting art that is at

least 300 years old, with the earliest known record of the existence of paintings dating to

1710. The collections predate those of the Royal Dublin Society, founded in 1731, and the

establishment of the National Gallery of Ireland, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1854

and opened in 1864. The collections represent in the main, painting, print, sculpture, and

statuary, with a significant historical focus on portraiture. The modern collection, initiated in

1959 by George Dawson, Genetics professor, introduced the ‘College Gallery’ hire

scheme, whereby original Irish and international artworks along with original prints and

artist’s posters were actively acquired for display in student and staff rooms on campus to

encourage an interest in, and a critical eye for, modern and contemporary art. The

collections consist of approximately 1,200 artworks distributed in public and private

locations throughout the main and satellite campuses, including the Provost’s House, the

Old Library, the Dining Hall, the Arts and Hamilton Buildings, schools, departments, key

offices, and the teaching facilities at St. James’ and Tallaght Hospitals. The College Silver

collection will be under the care of the art curator in the near future. For further information

please consult Paintings and Sculptures in Trinity College Dublin by Anne Crookshank and

David Webb (Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press, 1990 – currently out of print but available

in libraries), The Modern Art Collection Trinity College Dublin compiled by David Scott

(Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press, 1989- on sale in the Trinity College Library Shop), and

The Silver Collection Trinity College Dublin by Douglas Bennett (Dublin: Trinity College Dublin

Press,1988). Work is ongoing to make the collections database available online in the

future.

Provenance

Up until the mid-twentieth century, the main method of collecting was by portrait

commission, and donation or bequest. Paintings and sculptures of this era mainly represent

figures that were active in, or inspirational to, the University’s development. The portraits are

important as a commemoration of these people and their achievements, and they equally

form a record of Irish and international painting, taste, and political attitudes. Significant

donations, bequests, and funded acquisitions include the Madden, Gilbert, and Webb

bequests; George Dawson’s many donations and final bequest; the acquisition of the

internationally significant Moore, Calder and Pomodoro sculptures; and the Gordon

Lambert donation of 8 Victor Vasarely prints in cooperation with IMMA. Significant loans

include the Gulbenkian Foundation 20 year, 24 picture loan of the first original modern Irish

and international artworks used in the College Gallery art hire scheme; the 16 Jack B. Yeats

paintings; and the significant loan of 20th century Irish art to TRIARC. Many artists, alumni,

and other supporters of College, such as The Arts Council of Ireland, have donated or

http://www.tcd.ie/artcollections


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funded the purchase of artworks, and, during the latter half of the 20th century, the Trinity

College Dublin Association and Trust provided the initial College Gallery art acquisition

fund and continues to support the collections in terms of conservation and internships.

2. Use of collection in Teaching, Research, and Outreach

The 20th century introduced the study of fine art at Trinity College. Like many universities

worldwide, the 1960s witnessed the establishment of a Department of the History of Art and

Architecture. By 1966, Professor George Dawson’s promotion of the interests and

challenges of modern and contemporary art had inspired a formal education programme

in art and architectural appreciation headed by Professor Anne Crookshank, hailing from

the Ulster Museum. During the 1960s and ‘70s, Dawson also recruited an informal cross-

disciplinary group of volunteer students, the ‘College Gallery Committee’, staging

exhibitions of emerging and established artists both on and off campus, purchasing

artworks, and encouraging discerning appreciation. In 1967, the Berkeley Library opened

with a specially designed Exhibition Hall by Paul Koralek, funded by The Gulbenkian

Foundation, among others. The 1969 Pablo Picasso exhibition, staged while the artist was

still alive, was the first display of his art in Ireland. The university forum demonstrated an

ability to showcase creativity that was still too challenging for external cultural institutions.

By 1978, The Douglas Hyde Gallery opened its doors at Trinity College, championed mainly

by Professor Dawson with the help of key alumni and the College Board. The gallery

welcomed multidisciplinary exhibitions until the early 1980s when the Arts Council

promoted the current focused contemporary art exhibition programme that has shaped

Irish visual arts practice.

In 2007, the post of Curator was established, continuing in a more formal capacity the

dedicated work of past curators, academics, and administrators ongoing during the latter

half of the twentieth century. This has enabled preparation for the integration of the art

collections as a more formal resource for the core business of College, in particular by

involvement in the planning process for the new College-wide Strategic Plan. During 2010,

celebratory events for the 50th anniversary of the modern collections will trigger the start of

a programme of outreach to both the campus audience and the wider community.

3. Collections links

The art collections have links with many of the other College collections, mostly through

portraits of significant researchers in the history of the College. There are also potential links

that could be created in more abstract terms through interdisciplinary interests in the

creative process, subject matter, technique, and the science and technology of media

used by artists. Beyond the university, works by the artists represented are to be found in the

collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, The Dublin City Gallery – the Hugh Lane, the

Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Contemporary Art

Museum in Lisbon, Portugal and many other international collections.

Contact: Catherine Giltrap [email protected]



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The Herbarium

www.tcd.ie/Botany/herbarium

The zoological, geological and herbarium collections are in the School of Natural Sciences.


The TCD herbarium was established in 1840; its nucleus was the personal collection of

Thomas Coulter, the first curator. However, the Herbarium is mainly the creation of William

Henry Harvey who was curator from 1844 until his death in 1866. His own hard-work

combined with an ability to make and keep friends, including for example, Charles Darwin.

This, together with his extensive exploration of Australia, North America and South Africa

led to the accumulation of 100,000 specimens by the mid 19th Century including material

of Darwin’s. After Harvey's death the herbarium continued to accumulate material,

notably that of A.F.G. Kerr, a medical graduate of Trinity College from Co. Leitrim, who was

the first (and is still the most important) plant collector to work in the tropical forests of

Thailand.

The existing herbarium building was added as an annex to the School of Botany in 1910.

Prior to that, the Herbarium had been housed in No. 5 Trinity College. The official

designation of the herbarium in Index Herbariorum is ‘TCD’; this latter work also summarizes

some of the information presented here.

On a world-scale the TCD herbarium ranks as of exceptionally high importance because of

the unique material it contains including collections of great historic importance amassed

by Coulter, Harvey, Kerr and later workers. The Herbarium's holdings are large (ca. 300,000

sheets) and significant by international standards (for example it holds the biggest

collection of algae in Ireland and one of the biggest of any University herbarium anywhere

in the world).

2. Provenance

Webb (1991) shows that the largest collections of material in the Herbarium are from

Europe, South Africa, Australia, South-east Asia, South America and North America; though

all regions of the world, including Antarctica are represented. Since Webb's paper

considerable expansion of the Herbarium has taken place; its library is even better and is

amongst the best of its type in Europe; the collections have been considerably expanded

with a large number of modern collections from Thailand incorporated.


The TCD herbarium is a significant resource in Irish terms containing a significant part of the

heritage of the country. Its specimens are essential to base-line study of the Irish, European

http://www.tcd.ie/Botany/herbarium


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and tropical vegetation and flora and are used for undergraduate and postgraduate

teaching and research by students and staff of TCD and other 3rd level and second level

institutions in Ireland and by many national and overseas visitors who come to consult its

collections and library. There are a large number of published works on the herbarium –

which collectively indicate its importance – see

http://www.tcd.ie/Botany/herbarium/references.php

4. Collection links

The herbarium links to the College’s Geological and Zoological Museums and other

herbaria worldwide – including especially, the herbaria of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew;

the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; the University of Aberdeen; the Natural History

Museum (London); the University of Aarhus; the Forest Herbarium, Bangkok, the University of

Leiden; the Missouri Botanical Garden; the Muséum National d’Historie Naturale (Paris) and

many others –

see http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp

Significant elements of the collection have been digitised and databased using funding

obtained from the Mellon Foundation and are available on-line from from the Jstor plant

section (http://plants.jstor.org) where you can browse by geography, plant name or

herbarium.

Contact: Prof. John Parnell [email protected]

http://www.tcd.ie/Botany/herbarium/references.php

http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp

http://plants.jstor.org/



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Civil Engineering Heritage Archive

www.tcd.ie/civileng/research/heritage


The Archive consists of a catalogued collection of over 1,600 books relating to the history

of civil engineering and engineering biography; a collection of periodicals, notably the

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Transactions of the Institution of Civil

Engineers of Ireland, the Transactions of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, and the

Engineers Journal; an historical collection of Surveying and Drafting instruments (approx.

100 items dating from 1720 to 1990); miscellaneous historical material in the form of papers,

pamphlets and reports. The Archive is located in the Department of Civil, Structural &

Environmental Engineering on the top floor of the Museum Building.

The Archive also houses the National Civil Engineering Heritage Database that comprises

brief records of all major civil engineering structures in the Republic of Ireland, such as

roads, bridges and viaducts, canals and aqueducts, railway infrastructure, docks, harbours

and lighthouses, water supplies and drainage.

2. Provenance

The catalogue of the book collection (regularly updated and published) records the

source of each item in the collection. The provenance of most of the items in the

instrument collection has been proven and the instruments have been included in

published inventories of historic Irish scientific instruments.


The purpose of the Archive is to house and maintain a collection of books, periodicals and

archival material relating to civil engineering and related subjects of interest to the

departmental staff and students in support of teaching and project work and generally to

aid research into the historical background of civil engineering subjects.

Research enquiries from state and semi-state bodies, local authorities, heritage and

conservation groups, and individual members of the public, are dealt with on a regular

basis by the archivist.

4. College Collection links

The archive maintains links with other archives notably that of the national professional

engineering body, Engineers Ireland, the Irish Architectural Archive, and that of the

Industrial heritage Association of Ireland, all of which are currently housed at 45 Merrion

Square, Dublin 2. There is also a strong link with the Library and Archives of the Institution of

Civil Engineers in London.

Contact: Dr. Ron Cox [email protected]

http://www.tcd.ie/civileng/research/heritage



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The Classics Department Collection

www.tcd.ie/Classics/


The bulk of the coin collection is made up of late Republican silver coins and a full set of

imperial bronze issues up to the late 3rd century AD.

Other items in the Department include:

Demosthenes Relief

Several portrait bust reliefs

Sculpture of Mithras emerging from a rock. A unique sculpture which has been much

illustrated but never published comprehensively. The piece carries an original Latin

inscription,; modern inscription on back reads:

Ex donis

F. Hill M.D.

Academiae Dublin: Alumni

et

Med:Profes. Regii

2. Provenance

This coin collection came about as a result of mainly 19th century donations and comprises

approximately 1,000 Greek and Roman silver and bronze coins.

3. Use of collection in research, teaching, outreach

Dr. Matthew Ponting from Liverpool University and Dr Janathan Williams from the British

Museum have both given an assessment of the collection as a very useful teaching tool,

with potential for research in terms of metallurgical analysis in particular. The coins are used

for undergraduate teaching.

Contacts: Prof. Brian McGing and Dr. Hazel Dodge [email protected] , [email protected]

http://www.tcd.ie/Classics/




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The Computer Science Collection

www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog


The collection is located in 4 display cabinets the Atrium of the O’Reilly Institute and one in

the foyer.

It consists of two major components:

1. Artefacts, manuals etc. of College computing before and after the first electronic

computer was installed in June 1962. The oldest object is a circular slide rule invented in

1913 by Dr. W. E. Lilly, Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering.

2. A collection of a wide variety of calculating instruments, manuals and books, collected

by John G. Byrne over many years with a view towards illustrating what computing was like

before the electronic computer.

2. Provenance

College and John G. Byrne


A principal aim is to show students what computing was like before the electronic

computer and to display items associated with the early electronic computers in College.

It is hoped that it will be used in teaching and research. School visits are a possibility.

Visits by interested groups are a possibility.


There are some links with the collection in Civil Engineering at Trinity.

Contact: Dr. Brian Coghlan [email protected]

http://www.scss.tcd.ie/SCSSTreasuresCatalog



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Geological Museum

www.tcd.ie/Geology/museum



The Geological Museum is located on the top floor of the Museum Building, in the

Department of Geology. It contains some 200,000 specimens of rocks, minerals, fossils,

meteorites and models, as well as photographic materials, and archives relating to the

collections.

The Museum is a successor of the Dublin University Museum founded in 1777. In 1857 it

was housed in a large gallery specially designed by Deane and Woodward in the newly

opened Museum Building. Its collections were used primarily for teaching in the School of

Engineering, of which Geology was then a constituent part. By 1953 Geology was an

independent discipline and Department and the large Museum Gallery was split up,

vertically and horizontally for teaching space. The new Gallery was moved at that time to

its present location. At the present the collections include approximately 500 type

specimens which are of critical scientific and taxonomic importance.

2. Provenance

The collection includes material from Ireland, Britain and worldwide, as well as

extraterrestrial meteorites. Some early collections include mineral and rock collections

purchased by the College prior to 1800 and documented in an early catalogue of 1808.

The College purchased an important mineral collection assembled by the parliamentarian

the Hon. George Knox in 1823, and later acquired the collections of the Geological Society

of Dublin in the mid-1800s. It was bequeathed the valuable mineral collection of John Joly

in 1933. Since the 1950s most of the accessions have been as a result of scientific research

carried out by members of the academic staff and their students.


The collections and Museum Gallery serve several purposes. It is a research collection and

material is often lent to bona fide researchers worldwide, and TCD students and staff

continue to draw on the collections for research. The type collections are particularly

important in this respect. The collections are used in undergraduate and postgraduate

teaching programmes. A great deal of research on the history of the collections has been

published by the present Curator. Outreach plays an important part in the work of the

Curator of the Geological Museum. Last year a scheme for schools was organized through

the museum and every primary school in Ireland was provided with a set of six rock types,

an explanatory booklet, four large posters on the geology of Ireland and an activity book

on rocks and fossils. The Museum works with the Trinity Access Project (TAP) in TCD, is part of

http://www.tcd.ie/Geology/museum


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the Heritage Week programmes, and frequently hosts tours for school and other groups.

The Museum maintains close links with the wider geological community in Ireland and in

particular with the National Museum of Ireland, and the Ulster Museum. Its staff have been

heavily involved with the Geological Curators’ Group, a worldwide organization aimed at

improving the status of geological collections.


Some minerals from the collection are used in the current Book of Kells exhibition. The

Museum has links with collections in both the College Herbarium and the Zoological

Museum, as also with the National Museum of Ireland and the Geological Survey of Ireland.

Contact: Dr. Patrick WyseJackson [email protected]



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The Weingreen Museum

www.tcd.ie/nmes/weingreen-museum


Jacob Weingreen was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he went on to hold the

Erasmus Smith’s Chair of Hebrew from 1937 to 1978. He achieved a first class

moderatorship, a moderatorship prize and a gold medal in 1929, in spite of his not having

formal secondary level schooling. In 1931 he was awarded a PhD for a study of ancient

Jewish education. Generations of scholars have used his Practical Grammar for Classical

Hebrew, published in 1939, and it is still to found on the shelves of booksellers throughout

the English-speaking world.The museum holds over 2,000 objects, which encompass the

Eastern Mediterranean world and extends eastwards as far as the Tigris and Mesopotamia.

Its chronological expanse ranges from 9th millennium BC Jericho to 16th and 17th-century AD

Torah Scrolls. The Museum is located on Level 5 of the Arts Building.

2. Provenance

The Museum is the only substantial university collection of Middle Eastern material in Ireland

and its formation mirrors the political dynamics of Trinity College, Dublin in the 19th and 20th

century. In essence, the museum is the legacy of a lineage of powerful provosts and

influential professors who were closely involved in its formation. The collection can be

associated with characters of social and political rank, academic weight and artistic

vigour.


Artefacts from the Weingreen collection are central to the Department’s undergraduate

teaching about the history and cultures of the ancient Near East, as well as being

employed by those teaching archaeological method in modules for Ancient History and

Archaeology. Graduate students and interested upper-level UGs gain valuable practical

curatorial skills by assisting with the maintenance of the Museum as well as mounting

exhibitions and acting as guides for visiting groups.

Pieces from the collection have been published and we receive a number of requests

each year from international scholars who wish to examine and include our artifacts in their

research. The collection is of further importance with regard to TCD’s intellectual and

cultural heritage because it is in many ways a tribute to the tradition of “Oriental Studies”

at TCD, and has direct links with renowned Trinity alumni and emeriti such as the leading

Assyriologist Edward Hincks and John Mason Harden, political figures such as Crookshank

and can be associated with pioneering archaeological giants such as Layard, Dame

Kathleen Kenyon, Crystal Bennett, James Leslie Starkey and Sir Arthur Evans. It is also a

physical testimony to the achievements of a host of Trinity College Dublin’s Emeriti such as

Hincks, Harden, Weingreen and Crookshank.

Another important aspect of the collection is outreach. As a unique resource in Ireland, we

are visited regularly by school groups and historical societies. Unlike at the National

Museum or other local institutions, visitors can have hands-on experience of ancient

artifacts and we have workshops for our visitors that are tailored to their needs and

http://www.tcd.ie/nmes/weingreen-museum


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interests. Transition year students have also gained work experience at the Museum and

the hosting of pre-university students has been a central part of our UG recruitment.

4. Collection links

The Weingreen Museum’s collection is self-contained, but because of the variety of

artefacts there are many natural links with other College collections. For example, among

our holdings are organic remains including a mummified human head and mummified

animals that might link us with Zoology and Anatomy while some of the natural materials

could be of interest to the Geology collection. Our holdings from Roman period Palestine

have direct links with coins in the Classic Department’s coin collection (e.g., a Roman tile

from the subjugated Judea of the first century with a “Judaea Capta” coin

commemorating the Roman victory).

Contact: Dr. Zuleika Rodgers [email protected]

Note to Image 2 (above, right): This Neo-Assyrian relief image of a kneeling genie underlined by a cuneiform

inscription comes from the Northwest Palace of Nimrud, in modern Iraq and dates to the 9th century B.C.E. The

Weingreen relief is one half of a panel that joins another relief fragment in the British Museum, which although

much more fragmentary than the Weingreen piece, forms part of the exhibit entitled “Treasures from Assyria”

which has received global acclaim.



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The Zoological Museum

www.tcd.ie/Zoology/museum


1. Collection description and campus location

The Zoological Museum, located in the Zoology Building at the east end of College,

contains over 20,000 specimens dating back over 200 years. The wide diversity of animal

life represented in the collection is a rarity in itself and unsurpassed in Irish, and most British,

universities. Today, the museum which is part of the School of Natural Sciences remains a

vital, non-renewable teaching, educational and research facility for students, staff and

visitors.

It contains many examples of extinct and endangered species and insect collections

containing over 12,000 specimens many of which are of considerable national and

international significance. The collection is further enhanced by over fifty glass models of

marine-life, hand-made by the world renowned Blaschka family (c. 1860).

2. Provenance

Part of the Zoological Museum’s original collection dates back from the Dublin University

Museum founded in 1777. The present collection was moved to a purpose built building in

1876 (The Zoology Building). Since then, the building has undergone considerable change

and this inevitably impacted on the size and content of the museum. A fund raising appeal

to the College’s alumni and friends enabled major refurbishment of the museum in 2005. As

a result, the museum has now achieved national acclaim, culminating in a 'Highly

Commended Best Collections Award’ in May 2009 by the Heritage Council.


The primary function of the Zoological Museum is to provide a teaching and examination

resource for Zoology undergraduate students. The collection also contains reference

material for research purposes, notably the Murray insect collections. A recent review of

the Murray collection showed 336 records for the Waterford County. The collection has

been heavily drawn upon for national records going back to the Baynes revised catalogue

of Irish Macrolepidoptera of 1964. The Museum is an active participant in the Trinity Access

Programme (TAP), Culture Night, Heritage Week. We also encourage visits from school

groups, the scientific community and the general public. The museum maintains close links

with the National Museum, the Heritage Council, and Dublin Zoo.

4. College Collection links Geological museum and Botany herbarium

Contact: Dr. Martyn Linnie [email protected]

http://www.tcd.ie/Zoology/museum


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